By Jeff Broderick

The 34th Nippon Kobudo Embu Taikai was held at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, on February 6th, 2011. Taking place annually, this event always attracts a large crowd of history buffs and martial arts enthusiasts. This year in particular, perhaps due to a recent surge of interest in all things samurai-related, the crowd seemed even larger than usual. 35 different martial ryuha from across Japan gathered to demonstrate their varied techniques to the crowd - everything from empty-hand arts such as jujutsu, karate, and aikijujutsu, to weapon arts like iaido, sojutsu (spearmanship), archery, kenjutsu, and even gunnery were on display.Before the demonstrations, a special ceremony was held in which Sasamori Sensei of Ono-ha Itto-Ryu Kenjutsu, and Takeuchi Sensei of Takenouchi-Ryu Jujutsu received special awards from the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, recognizing their ongoing efforts to maintain and spread classical martial arts.

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November 3rd 2010. While shinai were clashing at the Nippon Budokan for the 58th All Japan Kendo Championships, the Meiji Jingu was celebrating the 90th anniversary of the enshrinement of Emperor Meiji and Empress ...

The court is being set up at the moment, full steam ahead. Mike Komoto and Bryan Peterson are here as KW reporters, Alex Bennett with the organizing committee, and a few of KW contributors here as competitors. Keep an eye on this page for updates of the matches due to start around 14:00 (Beijing time) today, and tomorrow. We will upload videos on Youtube when we get back to Japan. Unfortunately, Youtube is not possible in China, and Twitter doesn't seem to work either... ...

In 1935, Matsumoto Manabu founded The Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai (Society for the promotion of Japanese Classical Martial Arts and Ways). A kobudō demonstration was held on August 15th 2010, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the foundation, in Nakano Sunplaza, central Tokyo. ...

Araki-ryu kempo, a dynamic, multi-weapon art being demonstrated at the February 2010 Kobudo Embu Taikai at the Nippon ...

One of the more well-known Japanese spear schools, the Nara-based Hozoin-ryu Takada-ha Sojutsu style, demonstrating at ...